III. Monitoring Compliance With Human Rights

III(j) FREEDOM OF RESIDENCE AND TRAVEL

Hukou Reforms and Continuing Barriers to Migrants | Practical Impact of Reform | Government Measures To Address Abuse of Migrants

FINDINGS

• National and local authorities are gradually reforming China's household registration (hukou) system. In 2005, central authorities took some steps towards removing work restrictions on migrants in urban areas, but hukou discrimination in public services remains prevalent.
• Hukou reforms are enhancing the ability of wealthy and educated citizens to choose their place of permanent residence, but strict economic criteria often exclude poor rural migrants living in urban areas, preventing some of China's most vulnerable citizens from receiving public services.

Hukou Reforms and Continuing Barriers to Migrants

Since the late 1990s, Chinese authorities have deepened and expanded prior reforms to the hukou system, which since the 1950s has limited ordinary Chinese citizens' ability to change their permanent place of residence.¹ These efforts have occurred sporadically, most recently in 2001 and 2003–2004, and have been followed by central directives to slow the pace of change.² Recent reforms include relaxing previous limits on migration to small towns and cities and streamlining hukou registration in some provinces and large cities. Since late 2004, central authorities have also taken steps to eliminate discriminatory local regulations that limit urban employment prospects for migrants.³

Reforms generally provide preferential hukou treatment for the wealthy and educated, while maintaining significant barriers against poor migrant workers. State Council directives issued in 1997 and 2001 allow rural migrants to obtain local hukou in small towns and cities, but require them to have a "stable job or source of income" and a "fixed place of residence."⁴ Provincial and municipal regulations enacted since 2001 also contain these requirements.⁵ The definitions of these terms often exclude low-income rural migrants. For instance, Nanjing municipal regulations define "stable place of residence" as private ownership of a house or residence.⁶ Hebei provincial regulations bar migrants who live in rented apartments from receiving local hukou.⁷ Many local regulations exclude poor workers with incomes under set limits.⁸

Many provincial and municipal regulations grant local hukou in urban areas based on educational or financial criteria. Zhejiang province directs large and medium-size towns to grant local hukou to individuals able to purchase homes of a certain size or price. Those with higher educational levels enjoy similar benefits.⁹ Chongqing municipality grants local hukou to persons with a two-year college degree (dazhuan) or higher who purchase a house or apartment that measures 30 square meters or more.¹⁰ One city in Zhejiang province grants local hukou to unskilled laborers only after five years of residence, in addition to requiring a fixed residence and a stable source of income, but applies no time limits to skilled and educated individuals.¹¹

Migrants who do not qualify for local hukou usually cannot obtain public services on an equal basis with other residents.¹² In May 2005, the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights registered:

deep concern [with] the de facto discrimination against internal migrants in the fields of employment, social security, health service, housing and education that indirectly result[s], inter alia, from the restrictive national household registration system (hukou) which continues to be in place despite official announcements regarding reforms.¹³

Such discrimination severely restricts migrant children's access to education. The State Council has required local governments to take responsibility for educating migrant children.¹⁴ But some local governments require children who hold non-local hukou to be educated in their place of hukou registration rather than their place of actual residence, even if this requires them to be separated from their parents.¹⁵ Both national and local regulations permit schools to charge additional educational fees to migrant children lacking local hukou.¹⁶ Government schedules often set these fees at several hundred yuan per semester, which is a large part of the average migrant's annual earnings.¹⁷ Many public schools levy additional unauthorized charges that can total several thousand yuan per year.¹⁸ Some Chinese officials have made laudable efforts to curb such practices.¹⁹ Efforts by migrants to establish private schools to educate their children continue to face local opposition in many cities.²⁰

Practical Impact of Reform

Income and home ownership criteria limit the practical impact of recent hukou reforms. In the city of Ningbo in Zhejiang province, officials expect only 30,000 people out of a total migrant population of 2 million to meet the stable income and permanent residence requirements set in 2001 for obtaining a local urban hukou.²¹ After similar reforms in Shijiazhuang city in Hebei province, only 11,000 applicants out of a total migrant population of 300,000 migrant workers filed applications.²² Municipal plans to grant local hukou on the basis of investment criteria are even more limited in impact. More than two months after implementation began of Beijing's 2001 reforms granting local hukou to wealthy investors, only one person applied who could meet the requirements.²³

Local government officials often portray reforms as eliminating hukou discrimination because they have ended distinctions between different hukou types.²⁴ For example, Jiangsu province announced in March 2003 that it planned to end the labeling of hukous as agricultural and non-agricultural, thereby "breaking" urban-rural divisions.²⁵ Similar reforms have been announced in other provinces.²⁶ These changes do not abolish hukou identification entirely, however. They leave intact the remaining element of hukou identification: registration by permanent residence. Migrants must still satisfy the criteria set by local authorities to obtain a local hukou in a given urban area.

Government Measures To Address Abuse of Migrants

Chinese authorities have adopted a variety of measures to address abuse of migrants. Some measures reflect public concern with police abuses.²⁷ In 2003, after the death of a young migrant in police custody sparked a national outcry, the State Council abolished the coercive custody and repatriation system often used to detain unregistered migrants.²⁸ In Hangzhou city in Zhejiang province, the public security bureau announced an end to mass dragnet sweeps conducted to round up undocumented migrants.²⁹ In Shenyang, police announced the elimination of the temporary residence permit system and all associated fees (reducing the ability of police to extort additional payments from migrants) in favor of an automatic "sign-in" registration system for migrants arriving in the city.³⁰ Chinese authorities have also taken steps to eliminate work restrictions that discriminate against migrants. In December 2004, the State Council issued a directive to eliminate discriminatory measures that limit employment prospects for migrants in urban areas.³¹ In early 2005, the Beijing municipal government followed suit, abolishing long-standing regulations that prohibited renting apartments and office space to migrants and excluded them from certain occupations.³² Although scholars and citizens have called for more comprehensive legislation to protect the rights of migrants, Chinese officials have so far taken no concrete steps to respond to these demands.³³

Notes to Section III(j)—Freedom of Residence and Travel

1 For a more detailed discussion of the Chinese hukou system and recent reforms, see "China's Household Registration System: Sustained Reform Needed to Protect China's Rural Migrants," Topic Paper of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, 7 October 05; China's Household Registration System, Staff Roundtable of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, 2 September 05; Fei-Ling Wang, Organizing Through Division and Exclusion (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2005).

2 Ibid., 177–203. Reports in the Chinese media on such reforms tapered off almost completely in the first half of 2005, despite statements by public security and NPC officials that authorities were in the process of considering the passage of a comprehensive national hukou law. He Chunzhong, "China's Hukou Management System Contains Three Major Flaws, New Hukou Law To Be Passed Soon" [Woguo huji guanli zhidu cun san da biduan jiang zhiding xin hujifa], China Youth Daily, reprinted in Sina.com (Online), 24 February 05.

3 State Council Office Notice Regarding Improving Employment Prospects for Migrants in Urban Areas [Guowuyuan bangongting guanyu jinyibu zuo hao wanshan nongmin jincheng jiuye huanjing gongzuo de tongzhi], issued 27 December 04. A chart surveying various local, provincial, and national hukou reforms through the end of 2004 is available on the Freedom of Residence resources page of the Commission's Web site.

4 See, e.g., State Council Notice on Approving the Public Security Bureau's Opinions on Promoting Reform of the Management System for Residence Permits in Small Towns and Cities [Guowuyuan pizhuan gong'an bu guanyu tuijin xiaochengzhen huji guanli zhidu gaige yijian detongzhi], issued 30 March 01.

5 See, e.g., Nanjing City Government Notice Approving the Public Security Bureau's "Nanjing City Temporary Residence Permit Registration System" [Shi zhengfu pizhuan shi gong'anju guanyu "Nanjing shi huji zhunru dengji zanxing banfa"], issued 19 June 04 [hereinafter Nanjing City Government Notice], art. 3; Gansu Provincial Public Security Bureau, Opinions on Further Deepening of Hukou System Reform [Guanyu jinyibu shenhua huji guanli zhidu gaige de yijian], issued 30 September 03, art. 1.

6 Nanjing City Government Notice, art. 9.

7 Li Zhanyong, "Hebei Releases Implementation Details on Residence Status Reform" [Hebei chutai huji gaige shishi xize], People's Daily (Online), 26 September 03.

8 The limit often set is the locally determined minimum standard of living (zui di shenghuo baozhang xian). Ibid.; Danyang Municipality Basic Requirements for Obtaining Local Hukou [Danyang shi hukou zhunru jiben tiaojian], Danyang Municipal Web site, 29 June 05, art. 1(4).

9 Notice of the Zhejiang Provincial People's Government's Office Regarding the Issuance of the Provincial Public Security Bureau's Opinions Regarding the Deepening of Reform of the Residence Permit System [Zhejiang sheng renmin zhengfu bangongting zhuanfa sheng gong'an tingguanyu shenhua huji guanli zhidu gaige yijian de tongzhi], issued 29 March 02, art. 2.

10 Chongqing City Government Notice of Issuance of the City Public Security Bureau "Opinions Related to the Speeding Up of Municipal Urbanization and Steps Regarding the Reform of the Hukou System" [Chongqing shi renmin zhengfu bangongting zhuanfa shi gongan ju "guanyu jiakuai woshi chengzhenhua jincheng jin yibu shenhua huji zhidu gaige de yijian" de tongzhi], issued 29 July 03, art. 1.

11 Open Content of Official Affairs of the Jinhua City Public Security Documentation Center [Jinhua shiqu gong'an banzheng zhongxin zhengwu gongkai neirong], issued 16 August 01, arts. 5, 6(4), 8(2).

12 Even China's state-run media has discussed these problems in depth. Fu Jing, "Rights of Migrants Must Be Protected," China Daily (Online), 24 June 05 (noting that "[i]n some places, discriminatory policies against migrants have prevented them from integrating into cities where they are treated like second-class citizens in terms of employment, social welfare, medical care and education provision for their children.") Migrants face other exploitative and abusive practices by both public and private actors. These are surveyed in Human Rights in China, Institutionalized Exclusion: The Tenuous Legal Status of Internal Migrants in China's Major Cities, 6 November 02.

13 United Nations Committee on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights, Concluding Observations of the Committee on the Initial Report of the People's Republic of China (including Hong Kong and Macao), 13 May 05, 3.

14 State Council Notice on the Opinion of the Education and Other Ministries Relating to Further Work on Migrant Children's Compulsory Education [Guowuyuan ban'gongting zhuanfa jiaoyubu deng bumen guanyu jin yibu zuohao jincheng wugong jiuye nongmin zinu yiwu jiaoyu gongzuo yijian de tongzhi], issued 17 September 03, art. 6.

15 At least one province has announced ambitious plans to expand local educational opportunities to migrant children of long-term residents, even those who lack local hukou, over the next two decades. Liao Yanyan, "Long-Term Residents With Non-Local Hukou Will Receive Mandatory Education, Guangdong Will Take Preliminary Steps to Promote Free Mandatory Education" [Fei huji changzhu renkou jiang xiang yiwu jiaoyu guangdong quansheng jiang chubu tuixing mianfei yiwu jiaoyu], Southern Metropolitan Daily (Online), 19 October 04.

16 The most recent State Council circular on migrant education directs local authorities to "take steps towards" providing equal treatment to migrant and local children. State Council Notice on the Opinion of the Education and Other Ministries Relating to Further Work on Migrant Children's Compulsory Education [Guowuyuan bangongting zhuanfa jiaoyubu deng bumen guanyu jin yibu zuohao jincheng wugong jiuye nongmin zinu yiwu jiaoyu gongzuo yijian de tongzhi], issued 17 September 03, art. 6. Provincial authorities have interpreted this to allow schools to charge migrant families "temporary schooling fees" (jiedufei). Notice of the Zhejiang Education, Pricing, and Finance Bureaus Regarding the Issuance of the "Opinion of the Ministry of Education, National Development and Reform Commission, and the Ministry of Finance Regarding Implementing the 'One Fee System' in Compulsory Education" [Zhejiang sheng jiaoyuting zhejiang sheng wujiaju zhejiang sheng caizhengting zhuanfa "Jiaoyubu guojia fazhan he gaige weiyuanhui caizhengbu guanyu zai quanguo yiwu jiaoyu jieduan xuexiao tuixing 'yifeizhi' shoufei banfa de yijian" de tongzhi], issued 12 August 04, art. 1(2); Zhejiang Provincial Measures on Compulsory Education Fees [Zhejiang sheng yiwu jiaoyu shoufei guanli banfa], issued 19 June 03, art.8.

17 See also Human Rights in China, Shutting Out the Poorest: Discrimination Against the Most Disadvantaged Migrant Children in City Schools, 8 May 02, 14–5.

18 Chloé Froissart, "Restrictions on the Right to Education in China: An Investigation Into the Education of Migrant Children in Chengdu" [Les Aléas du Droit à l'Éducation en Chine, Enquête sur la Scolarisation des Enfants de Travailleurs Migrants à Chengdu], 77 Chinese Perspectives (Online) (2003); Human Rights in China, Shutting Out the Poorest, 25–27.

19 For the chart of allowable educational fees in Beijing, see " 'One Fee System' Implemented in Compulsory Education," [Yiwu jiaoyu shoufei shixing "yifeizhi"], Beijing Municipal Government Web site.

20 These practices depress the numbers of migrant children who actually enroll in school. Statistics vary wildly on this point. Official Chinese media sources suggest that roughly 10 percent of migrant children are not in school. "Nearly 10 Percent of Migrant Workers' Children Not in School," Xinhua, 6 November 04 (FBIS, 6 November 04). U.S.-based NGOs cite sources suggesting the number could be substantially higher. Human Rights in China, Shutting Out the Poorest, 8–10.

21 Fei-Ling Wang, Organizing Through Division and Exclusion, 192.

22 Ibid., 192–93.

23 Ibid., 189.

24 See, e.g., "Xinjiang Jimusaer County Hukou Reform Completely Wipes Out Rural-Urban Division" [Xinjiang jimusa'er xian huji gaige chedi quxiao chengxiang chabie], Xinhua, reprinted on People's Daily (Online), 12 April 03; "Chongqing Smashes The Dual Urban-Rural Hukou System, Carries Out Hukou Unification" [Chongqing dapo chengxiang eryuanzhi huji jiegou, shixing hukou yiyihua], People's Daily (Online), 8 August 03.

25 Yu Jindong, "Important Reforms in the Jiangsu Residence Permit System" [Jiangsu huji zhidu zhongda gaige], China News Net (Online), 28 March 03.

26 See, e.g., the relevant regulations for Gansu and Shandong. Gansu Provincial Public Security Bureau, Opinions on Further Deepening of Hukou System Reform; Shandong Provincial Public Security Bureau, Opinions on Further Deepening of Hukou System Reform [Guanyu jin yibu shenhua huji guanli zhidu gaige de yijian], issued 26 June 04.

27 Public security officials have also undertaken reforms aimed at centralizing and computerizing hukou records in order to strengthen police monitoring. Fei-Ling Wang, Organizing Through Division and Exclusion, 107–12, 228 n.95.

28 Congressional-Executive Commission on China, 2004 Annual Report, 5 October 04, 18.

29 "Hangzhou Eliminates Migrant Sweeps" [Hangzhou quxiao wailai renkou qingcha xingdong], Southern Metropolitan Daily (Online), 31 October 03.

30 Zhang Jing, "Shenyang Eliminates Temporary Residence Permits, Leads Nation in Proposing Reporting Mechanism for Temporary Residence" [Shenyang quxiao zanzhuzheng, zai quanguo shuaixian tuichu shenbao zanzhuzheng jizhi], Xinhua (Online), 22 July 03.

31 State Council Office Notice Regarding Improving Employment Prospects for Migrants in Urban Areas. The directive also instructs local governments to work on improving employment assistance programs, resolving outstanding violations of migrants' rights (such as back wage complaints); and regulating labor markets more tightly (by, for example, increasing government supervision of labor contracts).

32 "Beijing Eliminates Regulations on the Management of Migrants" [Beijing feizhi wailai renyuan guanli tiaoli], Beijing News (Online), 26 March 03. For an English analysis of the abolished regulations, see Human Rights in China, Shutting Out the Poorest, 99.

33 Zhong Angang, "Legislative Focus: Migrant Rights Await Legal Protection" [Lifa guanzhu: nongmin quanyi qidai fal baohu], Legal Daily (Online), 31 March 05; "Hot Topic: Understanding Legal Protections for Migrants" [Redian huati: Jiedu nongmingong de fal baohu], Legal Daily, reprinted in People's Daily (Online), 31 March 05; Zhao Jin, "Jiang Deming: Pass a 'Law on the Protection of Migrant Rights' As Quickly as Possible" [Jiang Deming: jinzao zhiding 'nongmin quanyi baohu fa'], China Economic Times, reprinted in People's Daily (Online), 11 March 03.